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Sentimentalising Nature

It is nothing new to see someone turn in disgust from the varied forms of unpleasantness in human society to embrace the joy and wonder of the natural world. But the dazzling beauty of its changing seasons and moods, belie a complex series of societies living off each others’ flesh. Everything is eating something else in order to stay alive. Some are parasites slowly engulfing their hosts, many are predators constantly on the lookout for prey. But those who are horrified by the human obsessions with fear and destruction in all its forms, social, psychological, economic, seem to find solace in the bosom of nature. And who I am to criticize them?

I have just come in from my garden, where the beauty of growing shrubs, trees and flowers have basted my consciousness with the beauty of their form, texture, colour and shapeliness, but I did not retreat there to forget the tremors of human troubles and suffering. I went because I love it. To be there, amidst the excitements of spring, with everything thrusting, sprawling, spreading and singing, is a marvelous method of being cooked to perfection, and thence to allow that meal of joyful serenity to be picked at by others, back in society, who may need those reflections and nutritious tidbits.

Maybe I’ll cycle through town and smile at people. Maybe I’ll stroll by the lake at sunset and bless those passing with a nod and a greeting. Perhaps a dog will be chewing on the remains of a fish.